Chapter Four: Mission Assessment

Chapter 4: Task Evaluation

Returning to the village, Lin Zheng once again approached the village chief. This time, there were no opportunistic players lingering around him, leaving the chief much more at ease.

“Oh! It’s you, young man. Have you found my glasses yet?” The village chief recognized Lin Zheng instantly, his gaze sharp and skeptical—glasses? Surely not, he thought to himself, that must be nonsense! Otherwise, how could they have disappeared so quickly? Of course, Lin Zheng kept these thoughts to himself and politely replied, “Not yet. The crows over there are too fierce. I plan to look for them again after I advance!”

“Ha! That’s true. Those damn thieves are quite cunning. Be careful! Hmm, you’ve grown quite a bit since I last saw you. If you want to progress further, I could offer you some guidance!”

“Initiating first job advancement task. Please select your desired development path!” After the prompt, a menu appeared before Lin Zheng, displaying all the first-tier archer classes along with their descriptions.

The Sharpshooter specializes in pure ranged damage, boasting the highest single-target damage among all classes and the longest attack range. The Musketeer delivers rapid-fire attacks at the fastest rate of all classes—after all, it’s just pulling a trigger. The Trap Hunter, true to its name, excels at setting traps to control enemies and is especially effective against bosses. The Duelist, however, is quite unique. Unlike the first three classes, which mainly rely on ranged attacks, the Duelist barely uses a bow and instead focuses on close-quarters combat. Lin Zheng chose the Duelist class—not because he had any particular insight, as he was still a novice player, but simply for the novelty. The information also claimed that the Duelist was formidable both in one-on-one fights and group battles. So without much thought, Lin Zheng selected that class.

As soon as Lin Zheng chose Duelist, the old village chief said, “Oh! You wish to become a powerful Duelist, huh? I understand!”

“The Duelist’s martial skills were developed by archers to counter sudden close-range combat. To become an excellent Duelist, you must not only have superb archery skills but also possess strong, powerful legs to quickly repel enemies who get too close. Go train in the Green Forest. When you’ve kicked down three trees, come back and I will give you your next instructions!”

“Accepted first-tier Duelist task: Kick down three trees in the Green Forest!”

Kick down three trees? Lin Zheng twitched the corner of his mouth. For an ordinary person, kicking a tree trunk like that would quickly result in a broken bone. Only in this game could such a ridiculous task exist! Well, since he had accepted it, he might as well get to it and finish it before going to bed.

Back in the Green Forest, Lin Zheng noticed the crowd hadn’t thinned much—night owls were everywhere. Scanning around, he spotted others kicking trees too. One fellow’s face was contorted from the pain. This task was truly brutal. Although the pain system could be dialed down, it could never be completely erased. The agony of kicking trees was no joke; even at minimum setting, an ordinary person would grimace. Some might say, “Dummy, just use the sole of your foot to reduce the pain!” But that wouldn’t count as kicking, and the task system wouldn’t accept it!

Lin Zheng picked a relatively small tree, about the diameter of a bowl, but kicking it down was still tough. He delivered a powerful kick to the trunk. “Snap!” –60 damage. The tree’s health bar appeared—10,000 points. Nearly 200 kicks were needed to break one tree, and for three trees, that meant 600 kicks! Lin Zheng was speechless. Was this some sort of Shaolin leg training? This first stage would surely make many give up on the Duelist class. Well, time to get kicking!

Lin Zheng kicked at a steady pace—probably able to endure the pain well enough—averaging three kicks every two seconds. Even so, it took him seven minutes to complete the task. Watching the others grimacing as they kicked their trees, Lin Zheng gave them a sympathetic glance before limping back to the village. The numbness in his right foot didn’t fade quickly, even in the game. He silently cursed whoever designed this task.

“Oh! You’re back so soon, young man! Excellent! You’re the fastest I’ve ever seen complete this trial!” the old village chief said with a broad smile. At the same time, Lin Zheng heard a prompt:

“First stage of first-tier task completed in 7 minutes and 12 seconds. Task evaluation: S-rank. Additional item reward granted; please check your inventory!”

Lin Zheng’s eyes lit up. All that kicking paid off! There was actually an extra reward! He hurriedly opened his inventory. Inside, a gift pack lay quietly. What could be inside? Just as he was eagerly anticipating, the village chief spoke again:

“Great strength is essential for every warrior. A Duelist must not only be strong but also possess quick reflexes! Go to the cornfields and defeat the large crows there to train your reaction speed. When you have defeated 100 large crows, return to me for your next instructions!”

More crow hunting—Lin Zheng felt a pang of irritation whenever he heard crows now. But two tasks at once wasn’t bad. Hopefully, these 100 large crows would drop the glasses! It was already past two o’clock. Time to finish the first-tier tasks and get some rest.

Upon arriving at the cornfields, Lin Zheng didn’t immediately start fighting the crows. Instead, he eagerly took out the gift pack from his inventory. The pack was bright red, looking quite festive.

S-Rank Evaluation Gift Pack: Guaranteed silver-tier item, with a small chance of receiving an item above silver tier.

What a treasure! Lin Zheng was ecstatic. If he got a weapon—even a silver-tier one—it would be akin to a legendary artifact at this stage! He quickly opened the gift pack. A flash of white light appeared and then the pack vanished from his hand, replaced by... a box?

Lin Zheng scratched his forehead, wondering whose equipment came in a box. Suddenly remembering that the gift pack description said “items,” not necessarily equipment, he felt a bit deflated looking at the plain black box. He had hoped for a legendary weapon but ended up disappointed.

The box was square, about a foot long and two inches wide, black and unadorned—utterly ordinary.

Nameless Treasure Box (Fake): A failed imitation treasure box, yet still possessing magical power. Placing equipment inside allows fusion with the equipment (only applicable to equipment below level 10). Epic-grade item.

What? Epic-grade item?! Lin Zheng’s eyes widened. This was supposedly the highest tier of item known! Excited yet frustrated, he realized it only worked on equipment below level 10—and what good equipment was there below level 10? This was a classic case of a useless treasure. Lin Zheng wanted to ask the system if it had missed a zero. Level 10 gear was basically worthless!

After a moment of inner turmoil, Lin Zheng pulled out his novice dagger—the only piece of equipment he had. Cloth armor? Forget it. Even if he tried, the box couldn’t contain it, and he wasn’t about to run around naked.

He opened the treasure box. Inside, it was just as plain—nothing special. Without hesitation, he placed the dagger inside. “Snap!” The box closed. Suddenly, a faint purple light glowed from the box before it disappeared, leaving the dagger seemingly unchanged. This scene looked utterly unreliable.

Muttering to himself, Lin Zheng checked the dagger’s stats:

Novice Dagger: Level 1 requirement
Physical Attack 326-350, Magic Attack 326-350
Unparalleled Level 1: +10% base attack
Spirit Gathering Level 1: Restores 50 HP and 20 MP per second
Vein Sever: Targets hit cannot regenerate HP for 10 seconds
Self-Taught: +10% skill proficiency gain
Armor Piercing: Ignores all armor effects
Soulbound: Automatically absorbs 20% of owner’s experience growth
Bound to character, never wears out

“Wow!” Lin Zheng shouted loudly, drawing the attention of nearby players. The excitement was palpable. Initially disappointed by not receiving a silver weapon, this unexpected powerful dagger lifted his spirits. The base attack was comparable to a level 10 golden weapon, and the additional attributes were incredibly impressive. The only downside was the soulbound effect, which absorbed 20% of his experience, but it still grew with him. Although uncertain how, this made Lin Zheng feel better. Undoubtedly, this was an artifact at this stage!

Equipping it, Lin Zheng’s stats surged:

Level 10 Archer:
Strength: 31
Intelligence: 1
Stamina: 20
Agility: 1
Spirit: 1
Physical Attack: 494-504
Magic Attack: 328-356
Physical Defense: 117
Magic Defense: 2
HP: 1000
MP: 100

A 504 attack! Lin Zheng wanted to laugh aloud to the sky. Few at this stage could match that. He raised the dagger and struck a level 10 crow, dealing 480 damage in one hit—thrilling! He dispatched the crow with another blow and moved on to the next. With this powerful dagger, he defeated 100 crows in under 10 minutes. Although still no sign of the glasses, Lin Zheng happily returned to the village chief to submit the task.

“Young man, I must see you in a new light. I didn’t expect you to complete the second stage of the trial so quickly!” the village chief said, genuinely surprised.

“Second stage of first-tier task completed in 8 minutes and 48 seconds. Hit count: 5. Task evaluation: SS-rank. Awarded an SS-rank evaluation medal!”

An evaluation medal? What was that? Lin Zheng held back his impulse to open his inventory and quietly awaited the third and final stage of the first-tier task. Suddenly, a prompt sounded:

“Item task overdue; overlapping with new task!”